The Squid's Ear Magazine


Dunmall, Paul Quintet (w / Saunders / Foote / Owston / Bashford): Yes Tomorrow (Discus)

An exhilarating departure from saxophonist Paul Dunmall's Coltrane-esque approach to free improvisation with this electrified quintet of Steven Saunders on guitar, Richard Foote on trombone, James Owston on bass and Jim Bashford on drums, playing with upbeat urgency through a set of Dunmall compositions, often letting Saunder's riffs take the foreground around a first-rate set of solos.
 

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Personnel:



Paul Dunmall-alto saxophone, tenor saxophone

Steven Saunders-guitar

Richard Foote-trombone

James Owston-bass

Jim Bashford-drums


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UPC: 5051078993423

Label: Discus
Catalog ID: 134CD
Squidco Product Code: 32468

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2022
Country: UK
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold 3 Panels
Recorded at Sansom Studios, in Birmingham, UK, on September 19th, 2021, by Olly Sansom.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Dunmall the composer is to the fore here, delving deep into his musical history by providing a range of material that celebrates the breadth of his experience including aspects of jazz, funk and soul. The flexible ostinato based pieces are constructed around the unique musical personalities of the players; the first soloist on each track being the only preordained performance decision.

Dunmall has always actively encouraged younger players and many of us have benefitted from Paul's personal and musical generosity. That generosity is evident here - it is an album where he is happy to lay out for long stretches, trusting his band to take ownership of the material, and shape it in their own ways.

Dunmall commented to me that this is "a guitarist's album," and indeed it is the self-assured approach and distinctive brittle sound of Saunders, right from the opening riff, which sets the album's tone. Throughout, the guitarist is the glue that holds everything together, constantly being alive to the other musicians.'

Trombonist Foote is perfectly chosen as second horn, contrasting and complementing Dunmall and Saunders' improvisational approaches, completely at home in this context his bravura contributions are powerful and exhilarating.

Dunmall's music has so often been underpinned by the strength of the bass and drum partnerships that he chooses, and this album is no exception. Both Owston and Bashford are superlative soloists and here they also demonstrate their seemingly telepathic understanding of each other's musical approach: propelling the music forwards, creating an unshakeable support for the ensemble, and providing delicately beautiful interactions.

Dunmall's own improvisations are typically inventive and stylistically varied but are often more concise than perhaps we are used to - not seeking to dominate the ensemble. The final track, however, is an extended solo improvisation, providing a coda of sorts, bringing us back to earth by offering the listener a thoughtful commentary on what has gone before."-Bruce Coates


Artist Biographies

"Paul Dunmall was born 1953, Welling, Kent; saxophones, clarinets, bagpipes, miscellaneous wind instruments.

As told to Watson (1989), Paul Dunmall was a working class lad from Welling who left school at 15 and spent two years repairing instruments at Bill Lewington's shop in Shaftesbury Avenue, London. He turned professional at 17 and, following two years touring Europe with a progressive rock band (Marsupilami), joined the Divine Light Mission, a spiritual movement led by Guru Maharaj Ji and moved from London to an ashram in America. He told Isham (1997), 'I moved to an ashram full of musicians - a music ashram - but it was still spiritual practice. That gave me a spiritual understanding through meditation, Coltrane's music, and all the rest of it, led me to that, and that's been a fundament in my life ever since - that I can actually sit down and meditate and forget my body. I realise how important meditation is in my life... but I don't do it so much these days.' During the three years he lived in America, Dunmall played with Alice Coltrane (in a big band with the Divine Light Mission) and toured for twelve months with Johnny 'Guitar' Watson.

Back in England, he played with Danny Thompson and John Stevens as well as folk musicians Kevin Dempsey, Martin Jenkins and Polly Bolton and then, in 1979 he became a founder member of Spirit Level (Tim Richards, piano; Paul Anstey, bass; Tony Orrell, drums), staying with the group until 1989. During his time with Spirit Level, Dunmall joined the two-tenor front line group Tenor Tonic with Alan Skidmore (1985), played and broadcast with Dave Alexander and Tony Moore in the DAM trio (1986) and formed the Paul Dunmall Quartet with Alex Maguire, Tony Moore and Steve Noble (1986).

In 1987 Paul Dunmall joined the London Jazz Composers Orchestra, being a constant member and appearing on all their recorded output from that date onward. The following year the improvising collective quartet Mujician was formed by Keith Tippett, Dunmall, Paul Rogers and Tony Levin and has continued to be a regular performing, touring and recording group, sometimes augmented by other musicians. Dunmall has also played in a trio with Keith and Julie Tippetts and in Keith Tippett's big band Tapestry. Two other duos have also sprung out of Mujician: Dunmall with Tony Levin (two CD releases) and Dunmall in folk-influenced outings with Paul Rogers. Another regular playing partner throughout this period and up until the present includes Elton Dean.

In 1995, two trios were formed, the first with Oren Marshall, tuba and Steve Noble, percussion, the second with John Adams, guitar and Mark Sanders, percussion, these sometimes coming together as a quintet. More recently, Dunmall has played in another reeds/guitar/drums trio with Philip Gibbs and Tony Marsh and there appears to be regular crossover between all these players. The Paul Dunmall Octet was founded in 1997."

Dunmall also has released a large number of albums and a box set on the UK FMR label, in various configurations and instrumentation.

-EFI (http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/musician/mdunmall.html)
3/25/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Steven Saunders-guitar, composer

Having recently graduated from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire with a first-class honours degree in Jazz, Steve Saunders is a composer working within both the contemporary classical and jazz idioms. He has studied composition and improvisation under such internationally renowned figures as John O'Gallagher, Hans Koller, Percy Pursglove, Jörg Achim Keller, Mike Williams, Mark Hodgson, Greg Cohen, Jez Franks and Chris Montague. With John O'Gallagher, Steve studied post-tonal music from the Second Viennese School to the late twentieth-century modernists, whilst his studies with Hans Koller and Jörg Achim Keller specialised in arranging and composition for large ensembles, ranging from a small big band up to, and including, a symphonic orchestra. Steve studied with Jörg and Greg Cohen at the prestigious Jazz-Institut Berlin, during his undergraduate exchange period.

Throughout his university epoch Steve also sought private lessons with composer and pedagogue Lee Differ, with whom he undertook studies in harmony, counterpoint and form, analysing the classical tradition through to the modernist period.

In his final year of study, Steve developed an interest in the French 'spectral' movement, most notably, composers Tristan Murail and Gérard Grisey. This, alongside his technological advances inside IRCAM's own 'OpenMusic' software and his attraction to computer music, inevitably led to a composition exploring this area. Entitled Abstract Visions of a Foreign Land, this piece was a forty-minute, six-movement composition devised for an eleven-piece ensemble, aiming to amalgamate the intricacies of spectral harmony (as well as its relationship to time) with formal frameworks and improvisatory concepts taken from contemporary jazz. This piece was Steve's final project in the Conservatoire and was received to critical acclaim from a large audience, receiving one of the highest marks to ever be awarded to a final project.

After attending the premiere, US-based violin and percussion duo, 'String Struck Duo' (Shannon Riley and Gloria Yehilevsky respectively) commissioned Steve to write a piece for their series of winter concerts; this composition will premiere in Buffalo, New York and Chicago in winter 2019, and aims to further explore the concepts introduced by frequency-based composers.

Asides from his compositional pursuits, Steve has been an active guitarist on the UK jazz and improvised music scene for the past six years, leading several of his own projects (such as G L I T C H, his electronic based improvisatory trio, or his contemporary jazz group, 'Steve Saunders Sextet') as well as performing as a prolific sideman in other projects, playing alongside such notable musicians as John O'Gallagher, Jim Bashford, Percy Pursglove and Chris Mapp. Additionally, he has been an active educator, teaching guitar and music privately and in organisations for several years, as well as assisting in school workshops introducing children to improvisation and composition."

-Steven Saunders Website (https://steve-saunders.com/about)
3/25/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

Richard Foote is a Birmingham, UK tromobonist best known for his horns and drums band Young Pilgrims, approaching New Orleans jazz in modern ways.

-Squidco 3/25/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"James Owston is a Birmingham based double and electric bassist playing regularly in the UK Jazz Scene.

James was born in Sutton, London in 1996 and moved to Gloucestershire in 2000. After taking up the electric bass at age 14, he played predominantly rock and groove music, until he was eventually introduced to Jazz. This led to him take up the double bass at age 18 to pursue his new-found passion for the music. Prior to attending University, James played with the Gloucestershire Youth Jazz Orchestra and other small ensembles, performing in the local area.

In 2015, James accepted an offer to study Jazz at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire where he has been receiving tuition from Arnie Somogyi and Mark Hodgson, Percy Pursglove and Mike Williams, as well as many other tutors at the institution. As part of his studies, James has received masterclasses from notable Jazz musicians Mark Turner, Jeff Ballard, Gilad Hekselman, Dave Liebman and Mike Gibbs, as well as getting the opportunity to perform with musicians such as Jeff Williams, Steve Cardenas and Julian Arguelles.

Whilst studying in Birmingham, James met the renowned British Jazz drummer, Clark Tracey, and in 2017 he joined the Clark Tracey Quintet. This led to performances at major UK Jazz venues such as the Vortex, 606 Club, Herts Jazz and South Coast Jazz Festival amongst others. As well as this, James has also performed in the Birmingham Symphony Hall foyer, Birmingham Town Hall, Eastside Jazz Club and Cheltenham, Manchester, Cleethorpes and Trondheim Jazz festivals. In April 2018, this band recorded their first album, also being James's first professional appearance on record, which is due to be released in September 2018.

As well as being an active sideman, James is leading his own groups, notably the James Owston Mingus Quintet, that focuses on the compositions and style of the great Charles Mingus, a strong influence for James as a bass player and composer."

-Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pg/jamesowstonmusic/about/)
3/25/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Jim Bashford, who hails from Sutton Coldfield UK started playing drums age 10 and was influenced by the rock/progressive rock and jazz scene worldwide, he was mainly self taught for the first 6 years then he studied drums under Steve Palmer.

The CONSTRUCTION quartet formed by Jim performed a tour in 2010 of original compositions with Icelandic guitarist Hilmar Jensson, Johnny Brierley bass and Robin Fincker sax and clarinet. The quartet was then joined by Tim Harries on bass with a recording to follow called CENTRELINE THEORY which has recently been released on LEO Records 2017.

After 14 years of playing as a sideman in bands covering all genres and also working in construction full time whilst studying on a popular music course, Jim then moved on to study at the Birmingham Conservatoire for the BMus (Hons.) jazz course where he continued under drum tutors such as the great Tony Levin, Gene Calderazzo, Jeff Williams and Malcolm Garrett. He runs Auditions at the Birmingham Conservatoire and organises workshops with highly acclaimed artists on the jazz scene in Europe and the U.S. and also collaborates with Cheltenham Jazz Festival to run a session with the conservatoire students and Trondheim students as well as organising auditions for the course in the U.K. and Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

Jim is a member of no less than 20 different ensembles and tours extensively throughout the UK and Europe, including appearances at London jazz venues such as the Barbican Centre, The Vortex and Kings Place; and prominent venues in Birmingham. He has also performed in prestigious international jazz festivals including the Cheltenham Jazz Festival, Juan le pins Jazz Festival and future engagements at the London Jazz Festival. Also a short tour with Dave Sinclair from the band Caravan with a recording in Japan to follow and also recently a European tour with Katie Melua."

-Jim Bashford Website (http://jimbashford.co.uk/bio)
3/25/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Micromys Minutos 10:28

2. Medgar Evers 9:26

3. Cosmic Communion 12:56

4. Drum 7:49

5. Parrott 10:48

6. The Golden Age 6:02

7. Yes Tomorrow 8:18

8. Every Soul 7:37

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
Quintet Recordings
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
New in Improvised Music
Recent Releases and Best Sellers

Search for other titles on the label:
Discus.


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